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Santander signs Ronaldo as global ambassador for their UEFA Champions League sponsorship

Santander signs Ronaldo as global ambassador for their UEFA Champions League sponsorship

Banco Santander is presented as the new official sponsor of the competition in Monaco, where the Champions League draw is held.

The banks announces its support for the “Common Goal” movement, from the NGO streetfootballworld.

Banco Santander announced today the signing of former Brazilian footballer Ronaldo Nazário as ambassador for their UEFA Champions League sponsorship. The bank begins this season as the new sponsor of the biggest football competition in the world.

Ronaldo has received great international recognition thanks to his success as a player at F.C. Barcelona, Inter Milan and Real Madrid, amongst others. He was a world champion with the Brazilian team on two occasions (1994 and 2002), and won two Ballon d'Ors as the best player in the world (1997 and 2002).

The announcement took place at an event in Monaco on the same afternoon as the Champions League draw was held. Ronaldo participated in the event along with Juan Manual Cendoya, senior executive vice president of Communications, Corporate Marketing and Research of Banco Santander and vice chairman of Santander Spain; Guy-Laurent Epstein, director of marketing of UEFA Events; and Jürgen Griesbeck, founder and CEO of streetfootballworld.

Juan Manuel Cendoya said: “I am very happy that we are finally beginning our sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League, the best club-level competition in the world. It will allow us to reach new audiences and be closer to our customers throughout the world. We have just renewed Santander’s brand to make it more modern and digital, and this competition is the perfect showcase to make it known and reinforce the bank’s values of leadership, trust and innovation.”

Santander announced in November that they had signed an agreement to become an official sponsor of the competition starting with the 2018/2019 season and continuing for three seasons. It is the most prestigious club-level tournament in football, with massive audiences in Santander's main markets in Europe and the Americas. Every year, the final of the competition is the most followed sporting event across the world, with a live audience of more than 160 million people. The competition has more than 100 million followers on social networks.

Santander also announced its support of the “Common Goal” movement today, powered by streetfootballworld, an internationally renowned NGO that wants to change the world through football, by offering economic support to organisations that use this sport as a social transformation tool. “Common Goal” aspires to channel resources created by football to improve the lives of people in need. Santander, who are the first sponsor of the UEFA Champions League to support “Common Goal”, will work with streetfootballworld to use football to support financial inclusion.

Additionally, Santander launched the “Football Can” campaign today, which explains the bank’s support for football, the sport with the greatest impact on society and the ability to improve people’s lives.

With the sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League and the signing of Ronaldo, Santander reinforces its links with football after more than ten years of sponsoring the biggest competitions in Latin America, such as the Copa Libertadores, and LaLiga Santander in Spain.

Ana Botín said: “Santander's partnership with the UEFA Champions League, the world's most global and aspirational sporting competition, builds on our support of Libertadores and, more recently, Racing Santander, the local football team of the Cantabrian city where our bank was founded 160 years ago. We love sport. Our free-time exercise, which we do to challenge ourselves to be better, the weekend match we watch with family and friends, our loyalty to a club and the excitement of the spectacle. We will continue our support of sport because it is a valuable way to contribute to the prosperity of the communities where we work.”

Watch Ronaldo’s top three UEFA Champions League moments on this video. Includes footage of the matches.English: https://vimeo.com/287503751